“Marigold, did you know Jeff likes to cook? You two have that in common,” Tom informed me, a little smile playing upon his lips.
“Oh, heavens!” Nancy smacked her lips and rubbed her stomach. “Remember the time he made that grilled lamb? He marinated it in herbs and garlic. It was exquisite.”
“What about those baby back ribs?” Terry asked the gathered crowd.
“And the ginger-glazed mahi mahi with that papaya salsa....”
“Don’t you folks think you’re laying it on a bit thick?” Jeff inquired. “It doesn’t take a genius to see that you’re trying to convince Marigold I’m a real catch.”
“I just think you two would be so cute together in the kitchen.” Nancy showed us a toothy grin. “Not to mention the food would be amazing!”
“I’m not a bad cook,” Tom told us. “I make pretty good pancakes and French toast. My wife, on the other hand, can barely boil water. But she does other things well.”
Terry nodded with great enthusiasm as he poured me another margarita. “Indeed she does. I remember one time I had a case where we needed to get up close and personal with a guy who was laundering money for one of the Mexican cartels. Jojo came up with a brilliant scheme that allowed us to get right next to the bugger. He never realized all the folks around him were part of an FBI surveillance team.”
“What about the time I had to go undercover on that case down in Manassas? She sent me to that hairdresser who turned me into a raving beauty. ‘Nancy,’ he told me, ‘you have a great chassis, but your car could use a good wash and wax.’ Next thing I knew, I was wearing spiked heels and an Yves St. Laurent dress Jojo found in an upscale consignment shop, sipping cocktails on the terrace of a hunt club with a guy who sold American missiles to a Middle Eastern country. Boy, was he surprised when I showed him my badge and cuffed him.”
“That was some dress,” Terry sighed, remembering fondly. “It broke my heart when she had to return it.”
“I’ll just bet,” Rocky chuckled.
Terry and Nancy volunteered to do the clean-up after dinner. Tom excused himself to go call his wife, which inspired Rocky to do the same. That left me on the balcony alone with Jeff.
“So,” he said, “shall we adjourn to the chaise lounges?”
We made our way to the seating area over by the master bedroom, out of sight of the kitchen workers. Cooper padded after us. When I sat down, the tiny terrier came over to me and pawed at my leg, wanting to be picked up.
“Well, that didn’t take long,” Jeff smiled.
“What didn’t?”
“Looks like Mini Coop is fitting in nicely. He already sees you as his go-to person.”
We talked for an hour or more, changing topics frequently. I enjoyed listening to Jeff talk, frequently interjecting comments. As I sat there, I realized that the more I knew about him, the more I liked him. It was a big change from my relationship with Jared; he had dominated every conversation, making sure to make his points and come out on top. Jeff wanted to know what I thought about this or that, and he actually listened when I answered.
All the while, the ocean waves rolled in below us, a soothing symphony of nature’s sounds in the background, drowning out the noise of the ice hockey game on the television in the living room. We could hear Terry holler at the TV every once in a while, berating a player who blew a shot or cheering for a well-placed goal.
“We’re ready to get started tomorrow, Marigold,” Jeff told me, gazing out towards the water. “Are you nervous about how it will all go down?”
“A little. Are you?”
“Sure. I really want it to go well.”
“Did you mean what you said earlier, that you want me to have a great life?” I wanted to know. He answered without hesitation.
“Absolutely.”
“Does that mean I’ll see you again when this is over, Jeff?”
“Do you want to see me again?”
“Definitely.”
“Who am I to disappoint you?” I could barely make out his features in the darkness, but I thought he was smiling at me.
“But if something happens....”
“Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. Tonight, we’re here, making plans to see each other again when this is all over. Nothing else matters.”
The evening passed too quickly. One moment it seemed we were entwined in each other’s arms, and the next, it was time for him to walk out the front door. That first kiss shared in the dark was tender, sweet. I felt my heart stir as we remained locked in our embrace, gently exploring our new-found passion. But as the minutes passed, I began to dread what was to come. It was almost time to say goodbye. Everything would change tomorrow. I knew we could have no future until we parted; and yet I was still reluctant to let go of what we had here and now. I wanted time to stand still for just a little while, that I might have more of him to remember. Jeff would leave soon to go back to Atlanta and I had no guarantees I would ever see him again, only his word that he would do all he could to make sure I had a great life.
“It’s time for me to go,” he announced softly, somberly. “Sweet dreams.”
“No,” I whispered back, fighting the tears, even as I knew he was right. “No.”
“It will be okay. Trust me.”
I watched him depart through the front door and once it shut, there was only the memory of too few kisses and his brief caress. That was all we would share until this was over. If we couldn’t catch the man who set this scheme up, if the culprit got away, I might never see Jeff again.
All that uncertainty left me drowning in a sea of despair. It had to work out, I told myself. It just had to succeed. Otherwise, my life would have no meaning beyond mere existence. I had seen the look of love in Jeff’s eyes; it was unlike anything I had ever seen in another man’s eyes, and now there was no turning back, no settling for second best. I just had to have him.
I tossed and turned as I lay in bed, unable to sleep. Cooper, anxious on his first night with me, popped out of his crate every once in a while and paced around the room, not sure of his new surroundings. Taking pity on him just after midnight, I carried the ottoman in from the living room and placed it next to my bed, and a moment later, the Yorkie gracefully leapt up onto the bed, making his way over to where I lay. With soothing words and a gentle hand, I comforted him. At last, he curled up beside me, contented. I soon found my eyelids growing heavy with sleep.
Just after three, I awoke in a panic, thinking an angry Jared was standing over me. Flustered, I quickly sat up in bed, my heart frantically pounding against my rib cage. I worked my way up from my fog of slumber, alerting my senses to pay attention to even the slightest sound in the darkness. Turn on the light, I instructed myself, reaching my hand up to the bedside lamp. The warm glow seemed to banish the shadows from the room and I felt the fear begin to fade. . It must have been a dream, my brain tried to insist, but I wasn’t convinced. It felt too real. Why did it feel so real? My cold hands trembled as I pulled the covers around me, disturbing the tiny terrier in the process. Cooper snuggled closer, wanting reassurance. I wanted that too. I was grateful for his presence; it meant I was not alone.
Had I imagined it all? Was it some concoction of an emotionally overwrought mind? I tried to recall the details. In my dream, Jared had demanded to know why I was kissing Jeff. I thought that odd. Had guilt crafted the nightmare because I had felt an urge to connect a new man, the first since Jared died, or was it something more?
There was a big part of me that regretted the day I ever set eyes on Jared. So, why would I care that a man who had shamelessly used me, might be angry I was falling in love with another man? Did that sound like me? I didn’t think I felt guilty about kissing Jeff, any more than I missed Jared. Fear was driving my emotions now, not love. But why? I worried that Jared had done something terrible, something so terrible that it would destroy any chance of happiness I had with Jeff. I worried something terrible would happen that would keep us apart.
> Was it because I had spent so many years living in fear that I didn’t know how to have a successful relationship? Did I just need a little practice in living “happily ever after”; to boost my confidence? Surely Jeff would come through for me. He’d be able to find me when the bad guy was captured, come hell or high water.
I settled back down, my head on my pillow, and let my thoughts drift where they might. I wanted to shake off this uneasy feeling. I was glad Cooper was with me.
Just past five, I woke up again. The little dog did too. His ears shot up, alerted to an unexpected noise.
“What is it, boy?” I hopped out of bed, pulling my robe around me. I stood staring at the locked glass door just a few feet away, half-expecting to see a shadowy figure slipping furtively away. The lights were off on the balcony, but as far as I could tell, nothing looked out of the ordinary. With a sigh, I turned, intending to check the living room, and that’s when I saw the tiny glow on the side of my laptop.
“Why would my computer be on?” I asked the dog. “I know I shut it off.”
Swiping the pad with my finger, I awakened the screen. Suddenly curious, I pointed the cursor over the battery display. I had sixty percent of a battery charge left. It had been over ninety when I shut the machine down just before I climbed into bed. Or had I forgotten to shut it down?
My apprehension began to grow as I stood there in my pajamas. Had the hacker turned on my computer again, this time in the middle of the night? Jeff and the others wanted the bad guy to believe he was getting away with his hacking. For the sake of another few hours, I decided I’d be able to live with the potential snooping, but from now on, I’d make sure to point the laptop away from the bed, just in case the camera was activated remotely. The last thing I wanted was a stalker watching me sleep. That was just too creepy.
Cooper woke me up just after seven, wanting to go out. I harnessed him, pausing to tell Terry about the nighttime disturbance. He didn’t seem particularly worried.
“Don’t worry about it, kid. It’s no big deal. Let it roll off your back.”
“Okay. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. I’m just going to take the dog out.”
“Hold on a second. I want to go to the car to grab something. Why don’t you count to sixty and follow me out?”
Two minutes later, Terry and I were riding the elevator down to the ground floor. He left me to go to the parking lot. Cooper and I wandered along the path, taking our time. After ten minutes, I was ready to go back up, but I noticed Terry was having a very animated phone conversation as he leaned against his car. Shrugging, I scooped up the dog and we rode the elevator to the top floor.
Nancy was fixing herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen and she offered me one.
“Thanks.” I took the mug from her, adding some cream and sweetener.
“How did you sleep?” she wanted to know. “Tough night?”
“You might say that.” I explained my experience with the laptop.
“Don’t let that freak you out, kid. As horrible as it is, don’t forget we’ve got an IT guy tracking every effort to hack into your computer. We know what that creep is looking at and doing when it comes to you. So, you ready for your big performance?”
“Not really.”
“If it helps, you look troubled. That should really help you to sell it.”
“Great,” I nodded.
Nancy and Terry toasted frozen waffles and browned turkey sausage, piling their plates high. They sat at the dining room table and washed their meal down with large glasses of orange juice. My stomach was doing flip-flops. I was too nervous to eat more than just an English muffin and a bowl of fruit salad.
“Bad case of stage fright,” Nancy decided. “Probably just as well you don’t eat a lot, especially if you’re going to toss your cookies.”
“And on that cheery note,” her husband replied, “time to get this show on the road.”
Chapter Forty Two
“Let’s go over this one more time,” said Terry a few moments later, prepping me for the staged argument. “Tell me again what you’re going to do, and this time put some emotion in your response. The more you rehearse your speech, Marigold, the easier it will come to you.”
We went did it again and again, with Terry playing Jeff’s role. He changed his words each time, but kept to the subject matter, forcing me to automatically react to his words. He said it helped to keep the conversation sounding natural if we improvised each time.
“I don’t want you memorizing words. I need your mind focused on the context of the conversation, rather than scripted words.”
By the time Jeff and Rocky knocked on the door just after ten, my butterflies had subsided. Nancy suggested I put Cooper in the crate during the performance, just to keep him out of harm’s way. I tossed a couple of doggie treats into the plastic dish attached to the wire side of the crate.
“I’ll be back,” I promised, kissing him before I tucked him inside. “You be a good boy, Coop.”
It was nice to know the little dog would be with me in the lonely weeks to come. That made it easier to do what I was about to do. I paused a moment, watching him happily munch on the treats, before I rejoined the others in the living room.
Tom called to say he was monitoring the scene. Not only did he have a lot of digital equipment ready to record the activities, he had strong telescope that gave him a bird’s eye view of our building. He would provide any backup that might be necessary, should things go bad.
Rocky headed out, to monitor the action from his SUV in the parking lot. He was hoping to catch the bad guy meeting with his contact.
As the four of us waited for Tom and Rocky to move into position, we filled the minutes with last minute chatter.
“Marigold,” Jeff said, his tone serious, as he took my hand in his. “I just want you to remember that whatever rotten things I say to you in the next ten minutes, I don’t mean a word.”
“You plan to be that nasty?” I smiled, feeling his fingers wrap around mine. I loved the touch of his hand on mine. It was a delicious sensation.
“I have to, babe.” His voice was earnest, his eyes almost sorrowful. As I returned his gaze, I realized he was struggling with this.
“It will be okay, Jeff. When you’re yelling at me, I won’t be thinking about what a mean bastard you are. I’ll be thinking about how much I’m going to miss you when you’re not here.”
“Really?” His shoulders dropped as some of the tension flowed out of them. “You mean that?”
“Of course I do. I’m going to miss you so much....” I started to get choked up, wanting to tell him what was in my heart, but a hand gave me a shove towards the door.
“Perfect,” Terry said, ushering me out of the condo. “Go with those feelings. Feel free to cry, Marigold. Just get the hell out of here now, before you lose your courage!”
He put his hand on the door lever and pushed it down. I took a deep breath as I heard the latch release. When the door opened, I stepped out into the corridor. That was the moment that it hit me -- Jeff was leaving me. What if I never saw him again? Suddenly, I didn’t need to act. I realized I was absolutely terrified.
“I hope you understand why I’ve made this decision, Marigold,” he said sternly, coming up behind me. “You and I are just two different creatures. It would never work.”
“But....” I started to protest, but one look at his face reminded me of all I was about to lose. I burst into tears, inconsolable. “I want....”
“You want! That’s the problem!” His voice got louder as he worked himself up into a rage. “You think I’m made of money! I’m the banker! I’m not about to fork over another penny to you. I’d have to be out of my bloody mind!”
“My watch!” That was all I managed to say before another wave of tears bowled me over.
“I’ll get it back to you. Vince said he found it on the RV when he was about to return it to the rental agency.”
“When?” I sobbed, wiping at my we
t cheeks.
“I’ll send it to you. You’ll have it within a day or two.” He turned, intending to head back to his condo, and I felt a sharp pain in my chest. Was it panic or just angst over losing the one person in my life who meant the most to me? I couldn’t let him go without seeing his face just one more time.
“Jeff?” I cried. For a second, he paused, shoulders straight, head held high, but he didn’t turn around. “Please, can’t we....”
“No.” That was the last word he spoke to me and it cut me like a knife. I could tell myself over and over again that he was just playing a role, but it hurt that when I needed him most, he didn’t turn back to me. Frustrated, I went back into the penthouse, slamming the door.
“How did it....” Terry began to question me, but Nancy stopped him.
“Let her go and have a good cry,” she told her husband. “She needs to get it out of her system, so she can go on with what she has to do.”
I said nothing. Instead, I walked through the living room and out to the balcony, where I flopped down on a chaise lounge and gave up any pretense of holding my emotions in check. It took me ten minutes to stop sobbing. When the last tear slipped down my cheek, I wiped it away, blew my nose, and went back into the living room.
“How are you doing?” Terry wanted to know. I shrugged.
“I guess I’ll live.”
“That’s good, because it’s show time. Are we all ready?”
“I am,” Nancy agreed. She turned to me. “How about you, kid?”
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
The three of us made our way to the foyer. Terry stepped outside to make the call to Rocky, knowing full well the man downstairs would be listening. Nancy made sure the door was slightly ajar, so she and I could listen. Terry paced up and down the corridor as he discussed the fact that Jeff wanted to cut me off, pleading my case and suggesting that, at the very least, I needed time to start my new party planning business. He wrangled with Rocky over the details, pointing out that the condo was paid for through the end of the next month. By the time they finished, I was almost convinced that I really was about to be cut loose.
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